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Natal Day

    The six mile road race made its first appearance on the program in 1907, a dozen years after the summer festival was inaugurated. It was a popular addition at the time and has continued as an annual feature ever since.
    Although road racing didn't become part of natal day until 1907, the sport was first organized and promoted in Dartmouth by Chebucto AAC in 1887.
    The event was run over a six mile course from Dartmouth to Mrs. Walker's house at salmon River, near Preston. Louis A McKenna won the grueling event with H.D. Creighton in second place.
Both Dartmouth runners entered a ten mile race from the Willow Tree in Halifax to Bedford the following Saturday with the same result - McKenna first and Creighton second. Interest in long distance running declined until 1904 when the Olympic Games, which were held in the United States for the first time, created a revival in the sport amoung local athletes.
    In the Thanksgiving Race held in Halifax in 1904, the victory laurels again went to two Dartmouth runners; Gerald Foot won the boy's event from Rockingham to Halifax, and James Martin beat out all other competitors for a first place finish in the ten mile event from Bedford to the city.
    Gordon Wolfe, a 17 year old Dartmouth runner, surprised local sporting enthusiasts in 1907 when he went to Boston to participate in that city's annual marathon. An Ontario runner named Tom Longboat captured that first place prize but young Wolfe distinguished himself by finishing a respectable 23rd out of one hundred and two starters. On his return home he was presented with a silver tankard and congratulations and best wishes from the mayor and council and a grateful citizenry. In the ensuing months Wolfe continued to be an active campaigner in local road races as well as in other parts of the country.
    Wolfe's great showing in the Boston marathon coupled with a new and growing popularity for the sport prompted the organizers of the town's annual birthday celebrations to include a six mile road race as part of the day's activities.
    The race was run from Dartmouth to Woodlawn and back to town. The exact course is not entirely clear but it was probably over a similar route through Woodlawn that was used in succeeding years until 1977
    If records are unclear as to the exact course followed, they are perfectly clear as to the winner of the first natal day race - Leander Lennerton of Windmill Road. Little is known of the Lennerton or his life in the town except that he did compete in other road races that year but none which achieved the same successful results as the first natal day race.
    Lennerton entered the Halifax Herald ten mile Thanksgiving Day race probably from Bedford to Halifax and finished second, just a few strides ahead of third place finisher Gordon Wolfe. Both Lennerton and Wolfe went to Montreal later that year and competed in the fifteen mile marathon through the streets of that city. Wolfe finished ninth place and Lennerton thirteenth out of seventy-five competitors.
    Both athletes returned in time to compete in the six mile race for the Mayor's Cup in late November. Again, Lennerton finished second and Wolfe in third place. The victory and accompanying silverware sent to Halifax runner Hans Holmer.
    After 1907 the names of Lennerton and Wolfe disappeared from Dartmouth records as active campaigners in future events. It appeared that both athletes were at the top of their forms in 1907.
The road race the following year was a joint venture involving the City of Halifax. The race was styled as a mini-marathon from Halifax to Dartmouth via Bedford and Burnside. When the runners took off at the crack of the starter's gun on July 30, the thousands of cheering spectators quickly rushed to the Halifax Ferry Terminal to catch the boats for Dartmouth, to be on hand to cheer the runners across the finish line, and to participate in other activities planned for the town's birthday party.
    The first runner to break the tape was Hans Holmer, adding the natal day prize to the Mayor's Cup won the previous year.
    As the years passed, patrons of road racing regularly gathered at the starting line on natal day morning, rain or shine (first at the Somme Branch Legion Hall on King Street, and later at the old town hall on Ochterloney Street) for annual six mile contest through Woodlawn and back to town